0:00:04 > 0:00:07'This is the coast of Connemara in the west of Ireland.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11'I'm here to study the huge sea creatures that swim in these waters.'
0:00:11 > 0:00:14It's a phenomenal encounter, it really is.
0:00:18 > 0:00:19That was moderately close.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23'And this glorious coastline is my office.'
0:00:23 > 0:00:24My God! Look at that.
0:00:24 > 0:00:25Ridiculously beautiful.
0:00:25 > 0:00:31'And summer's arrived, with age-old traditions carrying on as strong as ever.'
0:00:31 > 0:00:33The regattas, the festivals, the culture.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35'This is the good life.'
0:00:35 > 0:00:37It's great fun. Did I mention it was great fun?
0:00:37 > 0:00:40Woo-hoo-hoo!
0:00:40 > 0:00:41Fantastic!
0:00:46 > 0:00:49'This week, the appliance of science
0:00:49 > 0:00:51'in my efforts to learn as much as I can about the dolphins,
0:00:51 > 0:00:55'whales and basking sharks swimming off the Connemara coast.'
0:00:56 > 0:01:00It's still very exciting, undeniably very exciting.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05'The scariest harbour entrance I've ever seen...'
0:01:05 > 0:01:07Good man, Monty.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12'..and a magical encounter with inquisitive seals.'
0:01:25 > 0:01:28It's midsummer's day, it's 21st June,
0:01:28 > 0:01:30it's the summer solstice
0:01:30 > 0:01:32and unusually, it actually feels like summer.
0:01:32 > 0:01:38It's a beautiful, beautiful day, lovely blue skies, shimmering seas
0:01:38 > 0:01:41and the land is just a riot of life
0:01:41 > 0:01:44at the moment, everything's completely lost its mind,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47the flowers, the birds, the trees, the lambs,
0:01:47 > 0:01:49everything's just gone nuts.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51But the real action, for me, is taking place in there.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53So the pressure's on.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57I've started lots of projects here. I'm now doing the photographic ID.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01I've got to try and find some big animals, find some big whales,
0:02:01 > 0:02:03maybe orcas, passing through this body of water.
0:02:03 > 0:02:08I've got to collate information about the marine life here
0:02:08 > 0:02:11and try and communicate that to people to get them all excited
0:02:11 > 0:02:14about what exists right off their shores, here in Connemara.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26A beautiful day, it's midsummer and I'm off to Mayo.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Now Mayo's the kind of bit that sticks out,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31top left-hand corner of Ireland.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36So it's sort of a turning point for big animals, you know?
0:02:36 > 0:02:40A lot that come round the top of Ireland curve round the top of Mayo.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43And I'm going to be out with Simon on a boat,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46we're going to be towing a hydrophone,
0:02:46 > 0:02:51which is a great way of detecting cetaceans, whales and dolphins.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56'Simon Berrow runs the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group. I'm working for them as a volunteer.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59'There are plans to build an experimental wave energy station
0:02:59 > 0:03:02'in the bay and the IWDG has been employed to see
0:03:02 > 0:03:06'how it might affect the local marine life.'
0:03:09 > 0:03:12'First thing to do is to establish how many whales
0:03:12 > 0:03:15'and dolphins there are in the area.'
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Well, the sun just bursting through the cloud,
0:03:18 > 0:03:22so every indication is that this is all going to burn off.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25We've got a reasonably calm day, so the scene is set
0:03:25 > 0:03:29to see something and do some good work today, I think.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31So the idea is we're going off round the headland
0:03:31 > 0:03:33and the idea is to cover a set area of ocean,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36towing the hydrophone, just get an idea of what's out there.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45The hydrophone is a listening device that picks up the clicking noises
0:03:45 > 0:03:48dolphins and whales use to communicate with each other.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50It's part of Ireland's sort of ocean energy programme.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53We've got huge resources, but how do we tap into it?
0:03:53 > 0:03:56So what we're looking at is the impact on the environment,
0:03:56 > 0:04:00on the birds, on the benthos on the seabed and obviously,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02from our point of view, the whales, dolphins and seals.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05It's important to know what species occur
0:04:05 > 0:04:08and look at the frequency band that they communicate in.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12If it's baleen whales, like minke whales, it'll be low frequency,
0:04:12 > 0:04:15- porpoises, high frequency, dolphins mid frequency.- Right.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19We're deploying the hydrophone.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21What's the sort of range of it, Simon?
0:04:21 > 0:04:25Depends. For porpoises, a few hundred metres.
0:04:25 > 0:04:26Few hundred metres, right.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28- With whistles, kilometres.- Right.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32- Dolphin clicks, maybe 500, 1,000 metres.- Oh, wow.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36Actually what Simon and Joanna are doing here is,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38the hydrophone's deployed
0:04:38 > 0:04:42and you're looking at a sort of multi-faceted approach
0:04:42 > 0:04:47because that's basically the ears, listening to the water around us as we do the transect.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52But the most important thing is, in this case, is the Mark 1 eyeball.
0:04:52 > 0:04:58It's having a couple of people up the top permanently scanning the surrounding water with binoculars,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01so you're listening through the whole transect
0:05:01 > 0:05:05and you're recording whatever you hear but also you're looking as well.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14Amazingly, really. I can actually see something,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17but it might be a buoy or a seal's head.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20It's kind of at about two o'clock.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25- It's a bird, I'd say, yeah. - Oh, is it a bird? - A bird floating, yeah.- Oh.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38Ian here's been listening to the hydrophone for six hours.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44And are you hearing anything, picking up anything?
0:05:44 > 0:05:47At about one o'clock, I thought I heard a few clicks,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50so I just logged it in the computer that it was possible clicks
0:05:50 > 0:05:53and it gives the guys back at the lab a heads-up
0:05:53 > 0:05:57when they're looking at the file to see what time they can look at it.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00- Do you mind if I have a little listen?- Not at all.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03I'll put these on, then it'll just be music.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06- Could have been sitting there for hours.- Watching telly. - That's right.
0:06:12 > 0:06:13- No luck?- No.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17There you are. I won't deprive you of the pleasure for too long.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21You can hear the sort of slight cavitation, I think, can't you?
0:06:21 > 0:06:26It's not unlike a loud... the sound you get when you put a shell up to your ear.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29- Yeah.- Not unlike a very loud version of that.- Yeah, yeah.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37'After an entire day at sea, we're not sure we've detected anything.'
0:06:39 > 0:06:41I'm sure it wasn't this long when it went out.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44'But the data will be analysed back at base, just to make sure.'
0:06:52 > 0:06:57Oh-ho! At the eleventh hour,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00just as we're coming in,
0:07:00 > 0:07:05you know, disconsolate and broken, having been out here for 12 hours,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08there's a group of dolphins here, bottlenose dolphins
0:07:08 > 0:07:12- and they're hunting, they're driving fish inshore. - Woo-hoo!
0:07:12 > 0:07:16Whoa!
0:07:16 > 0:07:17Woo-hoo!
0:07:17 > 0:07:19Woo-hoo!
0:07:19 > 0:07:22These are the kind of in-shore dolphins
0:07:22 > 0:07:24that are seen around here quite a lot.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27- So they'll work this whole bit of coastline?- Yeah.
0:07:27 > 0:07:32I'd say we'll match these to Connemara, to Antrim, Donegal.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36So all these photos you're taking are going to be matched up to your database.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39- Just like the ones you took off Roundstone.- Yeah.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47Oh-ho, fantastic.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55For the guys on the boat, of course, you know this is when
0:07:55 > 0:07:58the works starts, the moment the animals appear
0:07:58 > 0:08:02and you get carried away and get all emotional about it, but it's really important
0:08:02 > 0:08:05to photo-ID them, try and find out where they're from,
0:08:05 > 0:08:09build up this database of information along the coast of Ireland.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12But it's still very exciting, it's undeniably very exciting.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26- Great, that really rounds off the end of the day, doesn't it? - Doesn't it just?
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Bottlenose dolphins by sunset.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32The dolphins saved the day but Simon's not had much luck
0:08:32 > 0:08:35with another important part of the project.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40Six months ago, he put out an underwater listening device called an acoustic pod.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43It's worth 4,000 euros, and it's gone missing.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48I have a plan, a cunning plan
0:08:48 > 0:08:50that we'll play to the market economy and I was thinking
0:08:50 > 0:08:52let's set a bounty on the pod
0:08:52 > 0:08:55because it's worth lot of money to us.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59- I'd do it for a pint of beer and a pickled egg.- You're so cheap. - I am very, very cheap.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02It's not just the price of the actual pod, it's the data we can't get back.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06It's irreplaceable. That's been there for six months now,
0:09:06 > 0:09:08that's half the year's data we could lose.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11- For us it's so valuable, I think a bounty is the only way.- Yeah.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23Just got in from County Mayo.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28It's quarter to one in the morning
0:09:28 > 0:09:32and we were up at six this morning getting ready for the boat.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37So they're long days, these, but I think it's almost
0:09:37 > 0:09:40you've got to put the hours in on the road and on the sea
0:09:40 > 0:09:44and it was a good day, we saw some dolphins.
0:09:44 > 0:09:49And it all adds to this body of work that's gathering information
0:09:49 > 0:09:52on these animals up and down the coast.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56But it really is up and down the coast.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00It's just relentless, you know? I'm cream-crackered. Again.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Always seem to be cream-crackered nowadays,
0:10:03 > 0:10:04so I'm going to crawl into bed.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16I'm having a little do on Saturday night and it's the first gathering
0:10:16 > 0:10:19I'm having since I've been here. There's a number of people
0:10:19 > 0:10:22who've helped me out, who've been nice to learn things from
0:10:22 > 0:10:24about the local environment and customs
0:10:24 > 0:10:28and all that sort of stuff, so I'm going to have a barbecue.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31But I haven't got a barbecue or anything to put on it at the moment,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35so I'm going fishing, pull my pots up and hopefully get some stuff,
0:10:35 > 0:10:37and build a barbecue right here.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39Never built one before, but how difficult can it be?
0:10:39 > 0:10:44Surely only a fool could mess up a barbecue building thing.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47There we are, done.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52I love the whole barbecuing process.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54You know, the fact that you light the barbecue
0:10:54 > 0:10:58at three in the afternoon and you're ready to eat by about midnight. I like that.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00I actually think this is going to work.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03Most uncharacteristic for anything I ever build.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08I actually think this will be a triumph.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12Perfect. Perfect!
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Now I've got to catch some fish.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20It's an interesting thing, this going out to get the fish,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23because the more time you spend out there,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26the more likely you are to see stuff.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28So it's lovely to get everyone round
0:11:28 > 0:11:32and hopefully catch some pollock but it all means time on the water,
0:11:32 > 0:11:36and that's the key to these things, maximising my time out there,
0:11:36 > 0:11:40actually looking for the dolphins and sort of recording their movements.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58Right, I'm going to stick the anchor down
0:11:58 > 0:11:59and do a bit of fishing.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Feel like a kid, all excited.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12REEL SPINS
0:12:12 > 0:12:13Great sound that, isn't it?
0:12:15 > 0:12:18And now...we wait.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23Bear in mind that in slightly over 24 hours,
0:12:23 > 0:12:25I've got about ten people to feed.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Patience is a virtue and all that.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Right, Plan B is I'm just going to drift along this headland here
0:12:44 > 0:12:50and have these guys in the water kind of drifting behind the boat.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54You watch, it's a banker. 100% that'll result in fish.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02Plan C is I'm moving a little further off the point,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05I'm going to go into slightly deeper water
0:13:05 > 0:13:08because that's where the big fellas hang out.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18Right, this is Plan D, put some feathers on
0:13:18 > 0:13:21and I'll just trail them behind the boat.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24There's a specific way up you're supposed to have feathers
0:13:24 > 0:13:25and I think it's like that.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37Oh, hello!
0:13:38 > 0:13:39I'm in.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46Ho-ho! That's almost half a fish pie.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Here we go chap, sorry.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54The big thing that fish do, bony fish do, as opposed to sharks
0:13:54 > 0:13:58and rays - there's about 400 species of sharks and rays
0:13:58 > 0:14:01and there's thousands and thousands of species of bony fish,
0:14:01 > 0:14:05because they've cracked a number of very clever things, bony fish.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08The first one is they have rayed fins, you can see the fins there,
0:14:08 > 0:14:12they've got like little sort of supports running through them
0:14:12 > 0:14:15and that means they can do this with their fins, they're not rigid,
0:14:15 > 0:14:19so they can swim backwards, they're very, very manoeuvrable.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22The other thing they've got is this huge mouth. You see the way that opens.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25It's due to something called the three-bar linkage system
0:14:25 > 0:14:29and that, essentially, is a wonderful bit of engineering
0:14:29 > 0:14:31that means the mouth can open
0:14:31 > 0:14:35much, much wider than the actual jaw size appears
0:14:35 > 0:14:38and when that happens, water rushes in
0:14:38 > 0:14:42and just about all bony fish use that as a feeding technique.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44They gulp in water,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47the food rushes in, and they close it - the three-bar linkage system.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49Look at the size of that mouth
0:14:49 > 0:14:51and that's a really, really great design feature.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55So there we are, that's a bony fish, it's a pollock
0:14:55 > 0:14:58and it's about half of my fish pie.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06There.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11We're done. I'm sorted for tomorrow night.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13I'm going to have a pollock-based fish pie.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16I'll buy some scallops off the fishermen.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23'I'm keeping my eyes peeled for dolphins
0:15:23 > 0:15:27'because my big challenge over the summer is to discover
0:15:27 > 0:15:31'if the animals I often see in the bay live here all year round.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35'If they do, this whole area could get special protection status.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38'I'm also going to be listening for them.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41'Simon's promised to give me an acoustic pod,
0:15:41 > 0:15:44'like the one he's just lost.'
0:15:45 > 0:15:47That's Errisbeg mountain there
0:15:47 > 0:15:50and there's Roundstone in the background.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52It looks like it's a beautiful day, but it's choppy
0:15:52 > 0:15:56and it's going to get up to 30 knots or so later on this afternoon.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58Now this is a great way to explain
0:15:58 > 0:16:01why I need the acoustic pods out here.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05The waves make it impossible to see a dolphin fin at any distance,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08which is really frustrating, but if I can't see them,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11I can hear them with an acoustic pod.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14And they're the constant scientists,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17sitting on the sea floor listening out for whales and dolphins
0:16:17 > 0:16:21and they're going to gather the information for me
0:16:21 > 0:16:24to tell me whether this pod of dolphins here is a resident pod.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28But photo-ID is still the most immediate priority,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31Simon's been in touch to say that the pictures
0:16:31 > 0:16:35we took on the hydrophone survey identified 11 individuals
0:16:35 > 0:16:38and two of them could be linked to the group in my bay,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41which all helps to build a picture of how they move
0:16:41 > 0:16:42up and down the coast.
0:17:00 > 0:17:01Come on then. Come on.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06It's another beautiful day on the west coast of Ireland
0:17:06 > 0:17:08but it's a very, very big day
0:17:08 > 0:17:13because we're putting the acoustic pods out. Simon's going to be down in five minutes,
0:17:13 > 0:17:15so we're going to head out in the RIB,
0:17:15 > 0:17:18head into the gloom and the maelstrom
0:17:18 > 0:17:20and stick one of the pods over the side.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22- Good morning, skipper. - Simon, how are you?
0:17:22 > 0:17:26- What have you done with the weather? - I know, it's honking - that was summer.
0:17:26 > 0:17:27- It's always sunny in West Bay.- Yeah.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34You got to bear in mind that this pod's going to be subjected
0:17:34 > 0:17:38to two months of big swells and Atlantic storms and whatever,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41so you need something fairly substantial to hold it down,
0:17:41 > 0:17:46so Simon gets these from the local railway, legally, I hasten to add,
0:17:46 > 0:17:50he doesn't go out in the dead of night and jemmy them off the track.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56If you're travelling by train anywhere near Kilrush, just hang on to your hat.
0:18:00 > 0:18:01Come on.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05'Simon's son, Ronan, is coming with us for the ride.'
0:18:07 > 0:18:11So we've very few from Achill, I mean Anthony's had a few
0:18:11 > 0:18:12up in Ballymoney, but not many,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15nothing like... It's really Donegal which is mad.
0:18:15 > 0:18:20- Where did you see them last night? - I saw them once in there... - Oh, that close...
0:18:20 > 0:18:22..and the other time was sort of straight off here.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24We're at 20 metres now.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28As long as the fishermen don't mind, we're sticking here, but it's your call.
0:18:28 > 0:18:29We've got 50 feet here,
0:18:29 > 0:18:33sort of 15 metres or so and this is slightly in the lee of the island.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36- Yeah, that's right. Excellent.- Great.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40So this piece of delicate electronics
0:18:40 > 0:18:43we're about to hoy into the ocean, how much is it worth?
0:18:43 > 0:18:47They're about four grand now, 4,000, yeah. Price is going up.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50If I lose it you can have my RIB, how about that?
0:18:50 > 0:18:55Oh, I like the sound of that. THEY LAUGH
0:18:55 > 0:18:56Sawing through the line.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59We did lose a lot in the early days - this is the fourth generation.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03But we're getting better and a lot of people criticise,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07"Oh, you've lost that," but we're working in a really harsh environment
0:19:07 > 0:19:10and most people who use this kit use it for porpoises.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Porpoises are coastal, you know North Sea, Baltic,
0:19:12 > 0:19:16it's not the west of Ireland, so we kind of used to feel quite bad
0:19:16 > 0:19:19when we lost gear and damaged gear and now we don't.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23We just say, "Look, you know, we're working in harsh environments."
0:19:23 > 0:19:27If somehow we proved it had a level of being a kind of resident pod,
0:19:27 > 0:19:29that's very significant, isn't it?
0:19:29 > 0:19:31Yeah. We're trying to protect their habitat,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35so if we can show that this is a site they use regularly,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38it's the same animals that come back, it has a level of importance.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40There's calves present, for example,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43it is important, therefore, it should be put forward as a site
0:19:43 > 0:19:46that should be considered for protection.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49- Hence the pod we're putting out today.- Well, you know yourself
0:19:49 > 0:19:52the weather isn't always great, you can't always get out,
0:19:52 > 0:19:55so acoustics can monitor 24/7 in all sea conditions.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00It's like me sitting out here for two months, monitoring everything that comes past.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02I think they're possibly more reliable than you.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04Yeah, yeah, I would say.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07My electronics are profoundly flawed, so...
0:20:07 > 0:20:10OK, no loops round ankles or anything?
0:20:10 > 0:20:13You can put yours in the water now if you like...
0:20:13 > 0:20:16and then that's drifting away. OK.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18This is it.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21We'll be back in a couple of months to see what data it's picked up
0:20:21 > 0:20:26of the movement of the dolphins on the coastline, so that's going to be a big day, that.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29It's the old Captain Ahab bit, isn't it? Loop round the ankle.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34Too much rope out, he disappears. Look at that, perfect length of rope.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36- Right, you're off. - Yes, I think so, there we go.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39A buoy with Monty Halls written on it.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53It's a beautiful June evening and I've got a dozen local people
0:20:53 > 0:20:57coming round and Simon as well, just to have a bit of food,
0:20:57 > 0:21:01to eat the pollock that I caught the other day.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05I've made a truly catastrophic fish pie.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08I'm not quite sure at what point a pie becomes a soup
0:21:08 > 0:21:12but I think I've crossed that barrier, whatever it is.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15But sometimes I think, you know, you've got a great evening,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18you've got good company, a few glasses of wine
0:21:18 > 0:21:25and fresh local food and you can't do much better than that.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32You see, I'm not entirely sure pies should do that.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37My guests are the people who've been helping me out since I arrived.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40There's the Berrow clan.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43'As well as Simon and his family
0:21:43 > 0:21:47'and the great guru of the sea, Martin, there's Bridie, my landlady.'
0:21:47 > 0:21:48Oh, nice.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52'Lyn, who looks after Reuben when I'm out on my adventures,
0:21:52 > 0:21:53'and some of my neighbours.'
0:21:58 > 0:22:01- Well, let me offer you a drink first.- Yes.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06Is it all right? You might have to give me a quick demo.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09Back of the hands, the back of the hands like, if you turn this,
0:22:09 > 0:22:10hold my hands like this.
0:22:10 > 0:22:11Oh, like that.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14That's it. That's it.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Lyn is the Ringo Starr of bodhran players.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24Very loose. That was fine!
0:22:32 > 0:22:34One of the things I've realised over here is
0:22:34 > 0:22:40when you get a group of people from Roundstone around and Connemara around,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43you don't have to try to entertain them.
0:22:43 > 0:22:48You don't have to make polite chitchat and all that. Everyone just has a natter
0:22:48 > 0:22:52and gets stuck in and before you know it,
0:22:52 > 0:22:56someone's having a little dance or singing a song or whatever.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00You know, really nice.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Really chatty, easy-going,
0:23:02 > 0:23:06lovely, friendly people who've all got a bit of a story to tell
0:23:06 > 0:23:07and are happy to tell it.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10So it's great, and everyone liked my fish pie as well.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:23:32 > 0:23:33Very good.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50I'm coming to a fairly key period in the work I'm doing here
0:23:50 > 0:23:53and I need extra bodies to help me out.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57So I've got a bunch of volunteers to come over.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00'They're from Plymouth University, where I did my degree,
0:24:00 > 0:24:04'and they're young marine biologists full of vim and vigour.'
0:24:04 > 0:24:08I've arranged to meet them in a local dive centre, which I'm turning down towards.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11Oh, my God, look at that!
0:24:12 > 0:24:15This is ridiculous, ridiculously beautiful.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20I'm really going to work them hard over the next few weeks.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23This ain't no holiday for them.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26It's going to be a combination of working dives for the IWDG,
0:24:26 > 0:24:28filming and photography dives
0:24:28 > 0:24:31and then get them out on the water and patrolling.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33I'm finding it so difficult all on me own.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Rubes, you've perked up a bit.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41- Hello. Hello, I'm Monty.- Claire.
0:24:41 > 0:24:42Hello, Catherine.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44Hello, Jess, how are you? Not a bad old day.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47- Really good day. - It's like this every day in Ireland.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49- That's what they've been saying to us.- Yeah, yeah.
0:24:49 > 0:24:54But there's no time to stand around chatting about the weather.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57I've already organised our first mission,
0:24:57 > 0:24:59to retrieve Simon's lost acoustic pod.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04I've got the other divers in the van behind me.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09The information on it is so important to the IWDG and the work they're doing,
0:25:09 > 0:25:15so I'm driving to County Mayo and I'm not coming back until I've got that pod tucked under my right arm.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21Morning, Michael, how are you?
0:25:21 > 0:25:25'We're joining up with Michael and skipper Anthony from the hydrophone research trip.'
0:25:25 > 0:25:29- Welcome back.- Yeah, yeah, I just couldn't stay away.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33Catherine, this is Anthony, Michael and Tim.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38- I see why you didn't bring our team, you brought this team instead.- That's right, yeah.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46Right, here's the plan.
0:25:46 > 0:25:52What's happening right now is we're just moving up and over the location of the beacon.
0:25:52 > 0:25:57The reason is we're going to drop the anchor and then drift back over the top of it and us divers
0:25:57 > 0:26:01will go down the anchor and then work our way back, sweep our way back,
0:26:01 > 0:26:04so we should sweep back towards it.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07I have high hopes for the rope search.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11- Yeah, me too, me too. - Which has immediately put the kiss of death on the rope search.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20OK, I'll head down first.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35To do a proper methodical search, I hang on to the anchor chain
0:26:35 > 0:26:39as the rest of the team use the rope to swim in a circular search pattern.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12- Do we have a pod, Monty? - Now that's a very good question.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18No idea. Not over there. I can say that with some confidence.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21So basically no pod, no?
0:27:21 > 0:27:24- No, we did the full loop.- Right. - Right the way round.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29Yeah, we just couldn't find it. It's a real mystery, I mean, what do you think?
0:27:29 > 0:27:33- Do you think it might have been dragged?- Definitely been dragged. - Do you think?
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Definitely there were some pretty hard storms here like but, you know,
0:27:37 > 0:27:39since the last deployment it wasn't
0:27:39 > 0:27:42that bad like but you just don't know.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45- You put things like this in the wild ocean.- Yeah, very true.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49That's really disappointing, you know, but there we go, we crack on.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53There's a good chance that pod will wash up anyway because Simon
0:27:53 > 0:27:57says there's a lot of goodwill towards the work the IWDG are doing here
0:27:57 > 0:28:01and when they wash up on the beaches, generally people send them back.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05So it's out there somewhere, gathering data, so, yeah...
0:28:05 > 0:28:08the truth is out there.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24Just got in again from trying to recover the pod in County Mayo.
0:28:24 > 0:28:30It's ten to twelve. Didn't get it back so bit of a downer, really.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32You know...
0:28:32 > 0:28:36I think the guys from the IWDG,
0:28:36 > 0:28:42diving's kind of my thing and I turn up with all my team and all that
0:28:42 > 0:28:47and there was a palpable sense of disappointment on the boat when we didn't actually recover them
0:28:47 > 0:28:51and I feel I've sort of let them down a little bit,
0:28:51 > 0:28:52which is a bit grim really.
0:28:52 > 0:28:58I had high hopes this morning when I set out, but there we go, these things happen
0:28:58 > 0:29:01and we tried, you know, we really, really gave it a good go
0:29:01 > 0:29:03and tomorrow's another day and all that.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07So there we are, one of those things, really.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24It's yet another beautiful day, beautiful June day
0:29:24 > 0:29:28and when I visited the Arans last time, I promised myself I'd return,
0:29:28 > 0:29:34so I'm going back and I'm going back to see if I can find baskers off those big cliffs
0:29:34 > 0:29:38off Inis Mor, to see if I can find whales, minke whales, dolphins
0:29:38 > 0:29:42but also because there's a big regatta going on, a big festival,
0:29:42 > 0:29:45and it's a great excuse to not only patrol the cliffs
0:29:45 > 0:29:49but also see a little slice of Irish culture and heritage.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53It's about a ten-mile trip, two hours basically - this is a gigantic patrol,
0:29:53 > 0:29:57hoping to see whales, dolphins and basking sharks en route.
0:30:09 > 0:30:14This is the main harbour at Inis Mor and, of course, this is the very centre of the regatta
0:30:14 > 0:30:19and where all the currach racing and everything will take place.
0:30:22 > 0:30:27Kind of a big deal here, you know, their regatta, it's a big event, a big celebration of midsummer.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31These are the currachs, these are the racing currachs
0:30:31 > 0:30:37and the first race is the one-man racing currach, which I am going to enter
0:30:37 > 0:30:41and sneakily I think I'll do quite well.
0:30:41 > 0:30:46I've got this completely unfounded sense of confidence, I've no idea where it's come from.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54- I'm entered in the singles. - Yeah, good man.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56Do you row?
0:30:56 > 0:30:57I've done a bit of rowing.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00It might be me next.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04I've done a little rowing training on the static rowers and things,
0:31:04 > 0:31:09and a little bit of rowing, but they look really skittish, they look like they move around a lot.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11- Really moves a lot, yeah.- Yeah.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15- Monty.- Yes.- Three.- Three, excellent. I like the look of three.
0:31:15 > 0:31:20The next time you see this currach, it'll be being winched up under a coastguard helicopter,
0:31:20 > 0:31:23having been blown about 40 miles out to sea.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29You don't want to get in them fellas' ways.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32No, could get nasty.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34Off with you now.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36Just round the same buoy as the other lads?
0:31:36 > 0:31:42- And back again.- Yeah. If you can give the biggest shove you've ever given a man in a currach.- Right.
0:31:42 > 0:31:43KLAXON
0:32:26 > 0:32:28Come on!
0:32:32 > 0:32:35'Yes, that is me coming last.' Did I win?
0:32:37 > 0:32:42It was great but... so much technique in it, you know.
0:32:42 > 0:32:48When you get tired and the moment you give it welly, you really give it stacks,
0:32:48 > 0:32:52straight away the boat goes like that, so you have to try and correct and correct.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55What did you think, Tony?
0:32:55 > 0:32:57- Uh?- What did you think?
0:32:57 > 0:33:01- Bit more training and you'll go places.- It's funny, the moment you really try
0:33:01 > 0:33:05and put a bit of power on, it just sort of slews, unless you really know what you're doing.
0:33:05 > 0:33:06Yeah.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13Winning the currach race, it's quite a big deal.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15It is, yes, as you've seen, when you were out there,
0:33:15 > 0:33:19there's nothing easy about it and it does take a lot of effort
0:33:19 > 0:33:24and it's a test of stamina as well as everything else, like skill and stamina and yeah, to win that,
0:33:24 > 0:33:28that's an achievement. For anyone who goes out in it, it's an achievement.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32- It kind of keeps the tradition alive.- It keeps you in touch with your history, basically.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34It's such a key part of Ireland's history.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38At one stage that was their mode of transport, you know.
0:33:38 > 0:33:43Yeah, and the way of getting your bread and butter, wasn't it, when you're going fishing?
0:33:43 > 0:33:44Well done!
0:33:46 > 0:33:49All the training paid off.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52Well done. Congratulations. All that secret training.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57And why stop at one humiliation?
0:33:57 > 0:34:00This is the pint of Guinness on a tray race,
0:34:00 > 0:34:04and these are the gentlemen I'm racing against,
0:34:04 > 0:34:08who assure me that when you get round the corner from beyond the crowd,
0:34:08 > 0:34:13so no-one can see you, it's all elbows and knees and...
0:34:16 > 0:34:17WHISTLE
0:34:38 > 0:34:40Oh, no, he's gone on the inside.
0:35:01 > 0:35:02It's all about spillage.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06Look at this, Tony.
0:35:06 > 0:35:11- I think I came last. - No, no, it was fourth. You was only fourth in under three minutes.
0:35:11 > 0:35:16- Right.- The rest was disqualified. - Were they?- You were fourth, or third.- I was fourth.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19It's been great, it's been a really, really good day.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23I've enjoyed myself even though I've been utterly spanked in everything I've entered.
0:35:23 > 0:35:30And of course we've got the famous Irish craic this evening with traditional music in all the bars.
0:35:53 > 0:35:54Bit of a windy day.
0:35:54 > 0:35:59We're going to go out just by Inishlacken island, catch some pollock, lift the lobster pots.
0:35:59 > 0:36:04I don't know why they're called lobster pots by the way, I've never caught a lobster in one.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07And today Rubes is coming with me.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10What do you think, Rubes? Pretty windy, isn't it?
0:36:10 > 0:36:11REUBEN BARKS
0:36:16 > 0:36:21It's always emotional when Rubes is on the boat. What do you think, Rubes?
0:36:21 > 0:36:28Barking at the waves is a new thing and I'm not quite sure why he does it.
0:36:30 > 0:36:31And he is barking AT the waves.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34We're not falling in, pal!
0:36:42 > 0:36:45I do my best to catch a few fish while I'm here,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48but so far it hasn't been going that brilliantly.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53Just going to try and catch a couple of pollock if I can. I haven't got any bait for the creels.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55A bit of a bleak old day.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59That's the bottom,
0:36:59 > 0:37:01or is it?
0:37:05 > 0:37:08I think this is a massive fish.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12That is a huge pollock.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15How about that?
0:37:15 > 0:37:17It's a beast.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20That's a big pollock,
0:37:20 > 0:37:22no doubt about that,
0:37:22 > 0:37:25but they get to about a metre long.
0:37:25 > 0:37:30This is such a successful animal on the reef, but that's a big fella, you know.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33It's a whopper. I'm going to eat him.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35He isn't going in the pots.
0:37:35 > 0:37:40A man and a gigantic Alsatian...
0:37:40 > 0:37:43out on a boat in the middle of nowhere.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49Oh, a mackerel. Fantastic! The mackerel are here.
0:37:51 > 0:37:57That's a real... harbinger of summer, that.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59They're my first mackerel.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02It's always a great sign, you know.
0:38:02 > 0:38:08It means summer's here and reminds me of when I was a kid, used to go mackerel fishing with my dad
0:38:08 > 0:38:14and they're the sweetest, nicest fish. I'll cook them up tonight
0:38:14 > 0:38:18with the pollock. Go and get the lobster pots.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25And there's one there, and there's one there.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39Lobster, whoo!
0:38:39 > 0:38:41How about that?
0:38:41 > 0:38:43A lobster.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47Three years I've been trying to catch a lobster in a pot.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51It's all getting a bit emotional out here at the moment
0:38:51 > 0:38:54and poor old Rubes doesn't know quite what to make of it all.
0:38:54 > 0:39:00So I'm going to head back in, I'm leaving my other two creels in, I'll come and get them another day.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03Quite frankly, a lobster, two mackerel and a massive pollock,
0:39:03 > 0:39:05that's not a bad haul for half an hour.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18This is Homarus gammarus - the lobster.
0:39:18 > 0:39:22You can see one massive claw there -
0:39:22 > 0:39:25that's its kind of fighting-and-crushing claw
0:39:25 > 0:39:28and the other claw is more of a tool.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32An interesting thing about these guys, the way they communicate,
0:39:32 > 0:39:36the way they find a mate, is through their wee, through urine.
0:39:36 > 0:39:42If a female likes the smell of a male's urine, it'll urinate
0:39:42 > 0:39:45outside his hole, as it were,
0:39:45 > 0:39:47outside his den, and he'll come out to investigate.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49If he likes the smell of her urine
0:39:49 > 0:39:53the two of them live happily in marital bliss afterwards,
0:39:53 > 0:39:58in a relationship based on urine, which is quite interesting.
0:39:58 > 0:40:03I shall dine royally tonight, on lobster and fresh mackerel,
0:40:03 > 0:40:05which isn't too bad, is it?
0:40:08 > 0:40:14Just cooking the lobster and I'm going to go and get one of my elephant garlics in a moment,
0:40:14 > 0:40:16from the garden.
0:40:16 > 0:40:17Rubes.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21Mix it in with a bit of butter, a little potato salad that I've made
0:40:21 > 0:40:28and then drizzle the garlic over the top of the lobster and then I'm going to stuff my face.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30Now, as ever with my recipes,
0:40:30 > 0:40:35I wouldn't particularly recommend giving this a go at home.
0:40:35 > 0:40:40It's sort of experimental but I'm told that elephant garlic
0:40:40 > 0:40:45is more of a kind of leeky, oniony affair.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49I'll just sort of give that a bit of butter a certain piquant taste,
0:40:49 > 0:40:52as we say in the business, and I'll get a few herbs
0:40:52 > 0:40:56from the little herb garden at the back, sprinkle that in as well
0:40:56 > 0:41:00and, again, with something like a lobster, you really don't need to
0:41:00 > 0:41:01do too much, do you?
0:41:01 > 0:41:07I've put a bit of lemon in it, as well, and a bit of potato salad and then just eat it.
0:41:07 > 0:41:12It's not a bad evening. It's June so it's kind of warmish,
0:41:12 > 0:41:14so I've decided I'm going to eat it outside
0:41:14 > 0:41:17and because I'm a man of no style or class whatsoever
0:41:17 > 0:41:19I haven't got any white wine,
0:41:19 > 0:41:23I've only got red wine and it's from a box as well.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26How naff's that?
0:41:26 > 0:41:27But there we go.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31Meal fit for a king, I think, and I'm eating it all on me own.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34I'm just sitting here eating a lobster on my Jack Jones
0:41:34 > 0:41:36and normally I think,
0:41:36 > 0:41:39"Oh, it's beautiful food, lovely evening, be nice to have some company,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42"some, you know, hint of romance in the air,"
0:41:42 > 0:41:46but this evening I just think it's more for me, quite frankly.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51Mmm.
0:41:51 > 0:41:53So good.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08One of the things I haven't got round to yet is doing talks for the locals
0:42:08 > 0:42:12about what fantastic wildlife they've got on their doorstep.
0:42:12 > 0:42:18So today, I'm making a start on the remotest inhabited island on the west coast.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22This is Inishturk.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25It's kind of a far-flung outpost of island life.
0:42:25 > 0:42:30There's about 80 people live on the island and it's a very good place for me to visit, actually,
0:42:30 > 0:42:34because the guys here, if anyone's going to be seeing basking sharks,
0:42:34 > 0:42:39whales and dolphins, it's the fishermen who work from here, so I've got a day on the island.
0:42:39 > 0:42:44The first stop, the island's only school with a grand total of seven pupils and one teacher.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49The reason we know nothing about these animals,
0:42:49 > 0:42:51have a guess how deep the...
0:42:51 > 0:42:57'I got into marine biology as a kid and I want to inspire the next generation.'
0:42:57 > 0:43:00Two and a half miles - that's how deep the ocean is.
0:43:00 > 0:43:05Two and a half miles deep. So we don't know anything about it, it's deep and dark and mysterious.
0:43:05 > 0:43:10But what you do is you go out there and you throw in a bit of bait,
0:43:10 > 0:43:16as you can see, and you wait for the amazing senses that a shark has to actually close in on the bait.
0:43:16 > 0:43:21So it swims up to the boat and then you just pull the bait in and the shark just follows
0:43:21 > 0:43:27the bait in and you're trying to get it to come up and actually show you these amazing jaws.
0:43:27 > 0:43:34There we go. Now these are the tags and the idea is that we go up to the sharks, as you can see here,
0:43:34 > 0:43:39and with a pole, like a broomstick, and we just stick that in at the base of their fin.
0:43:39 > 0:43:44They just don't feel it, they're like dinosaurs, these guys, they weigh five tons, they're massive.
0:43:44 > 0:43:49So I'll go and stick that in the basking shark that you tell me's here
0:43:49 > 0:43:54when the basking sharks turn up and then we get a lot more information about where they go,
0:43:54 > 0:43:57what happens to them, where they are in the world's oceans and this,
0:43:57 > 0:44:00where you live, is one of the few places on earth where
0:44:00 > 0:44:05they're regularly seen, so you're really lucky, you've got giants off the shore. Fantastic thing.
0:44:05 > 0:44:11- And the other thing as well that you can help me with is if you see any whales or any dolphins.- Whoa!
0:44:11 > 0:44:15You see a lot of them? Yeah? Fantastic.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18'Amazing experience, that.'
0:44:18 > 0:44:21It's interesting that the kids are so locked into the environment.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24I asked questions about the sea and they knew straightaway
0:44:24 > 0:44:28because the sea's in their blood, it really is, they're islanders. Brilliant.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32Good stuff. Created seven more marine biologists, part of my mission.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40I couldn't come all this way and not explore the islands properly.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45John Brittain, head of the local RNLI, and historian Michael Gibbons
0:44:45 > 0:44:50have agreed to show me the sights, starting with an extraordinary natural harbour.
0:44:53 > 0:44:58But to get to it you've got to go through this narrow bottleneck, which coincidentally
0:44:58 > 0:45:01is just as wide as a modern RIB apparently and we've got
0:45:01 > 0:45:03a bit of swell taking us in there,
0:45:03 > 0:45:06so I could stick like a big orange bung.
0:45:06 > 0:45:12Both John and Michael have never done this in a RIB before and obviously neither have I, so...
0:45:18 > 0:45:20Good man, Monty. Well done.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23That was exhilarating.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27- Look at this!- This is a pirates' lair, like, it's just perfect.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30It is. Perfect base to launch little forays out
0:45:30 > 0:45:33and no-one will find you here, unless they know the coast.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36If you come along the coast, you wouldn't know it was there.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39What's really amazing about the site is,
0:45:39 > 0:45:45very narrow little promontory fort and they built a wall right out, not conceding any ground at all.
0:45:45 > 0:45:51And this was unequivocally a fortification, this was built for battle, it was built...
0:45:51 > 0:45:54Well, the character of the Irish historically was riven by faction,
0:45:54 > 0:46:01prone to internecine strife and family feuds, so you had a political system that's family-based.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05Every 20 miles it's a new country and new political allegiances
0:46:05 > 0:46:08and they were changing very dramatically over time.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12Anyone raiding from the sea, you're going to take a small area but then if you
0:46:12 > 0:46:14want to move up the coast you have to do it all again.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17All over again, so it makes colonisation very difficult
0:46:17 > 0:46:21"Oh, for crying out loud - another chieftain's daughter to marry off."
0:46:21 > 0:46:24Much of Ireland was like that prior to the Middle Ages
0:46:24 > 0:46:27but Gaelism has been in retreat since then and it's still surviving here.
0:46:27 > 0:46:32- This is the last stronghold. - Yeah, clinging on to the cultural abyss by its fingernails.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43The neighbouring island of Caher has been uninhabited for years,
0:46:43 > 0:46:48but it's one of the earliest sites of Christianity in Ireland and still a place of pilgrimage.
0:46:52 > 0:46:56We're walking along the ancient harbour here,
0:46:56 > 0:47:01passing what would originally have been a little lot with its cross on,
0:47:01 > 0:47:06often with white quartz pebbles just overlooking, cross-marking the landing harbour.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09So, we're walking over sacred ground here?
0:47:09 > 0:47:11Yeah, it was a holy island, essentially.
0:47:11 > 0:47:16So what's really wonderful about it, unlike the more famous sites - the Skelligs and Inishmurray,
0:47:16 > 0:47:21you haven't had the heavy hand of the restorer's eye
0:47:21 > 0:47:24trying to figure out what it was like. This is as history has left it,
0:47:24 > 0:47:29so it is a remarkable - dishevelled, in some ways - but really authentic early site.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33So if you look, you just get a glimpse through what you're looking at here.
0:47:33 > 0:47:37It's a seventh- or eighth-century hanging lamp from the early church
0:47:37 > 0:47:41and you've the cursing stone next to it, which is this wonderful conglomerate rock.
0:47:41 > 0:47:47But the difficulty with restoring a building like this is the less you do, the better.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49Yeah. So that would have been a hanging oil?
0:47:49 > 0:47:55Yes, it's a little rail around the edge but, as you can see, these are 50 cents.
0:47:55 > 0:48:02This is from last year's pilgrimage. This is living proof, if you like, that this is part of
0:48:02 > 0:48:07the Christian culture that's still clinging on here. In a turbulent world, people come to Caher
0:48:07 > 0:48:14as part of an important part of their sort of spiritual cycle during the year. It's like an anchor point.
0:48:14 > 0:48:18Every now and then as I travel up and down the coast of Ireland looking for
0:48:18 > 0:48:23basking sharks and dolphins and whales, you come across a gem,
0:48:23 > 0:48:27you come across something really special and that's this place.
0:48:27 > 0:48:31This is the embodiment of a very special part of Irish culture
0:48:31 > 0:48:37and there are certain places, I think, that have a real feel to them,
0:48:37 > 0:48:42whether a very spiritual feel or a sacred feel and I can see why this place is what it is
0:48:42 > 0:48:46in terms of a pilgrimage or whatever, you know.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49I'm surrounded by artefacts that are 1,000 years old -
0:48:49 > 0:48:53they're lying on the floor, they're propped up against walls, carved by someone
0:48:53 > 0:48:59centuries and centuries ago and it's one of the most extraordinary places I think I've ever been.
0:48:59 > 0:49:00It's very special.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19When I arrived in Connemara, back in April,
0:49:19 > 0:49:26Martin O'Malley introduced me to these waters with a visit to a seal colony near Slyne Head.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30We're going back now for Martin's first-ever open-water dive
0:49:30 > 0:49:34and to check out the seals, which are a killer whale's favourite food.
0:49:45 > 0:49:50Always a nervous moment following Martin through these...
0:49:50 > 0:49:54tiny honeycomb network of islands, got to concentrate 100%.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58There's about three foot of water under his keel,
0:49:58 > 0:50:01which means there's three foot of water under my keel.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11I'm close to tears.
0:50:11 > 0:50:13He does it on purpose, Martin.
0:50:20 > 0:50:25And if my memory serves me correctly I think the seal colony's just up here.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28You'll start to see them in a moment, hopefully.
0:50:28 > 0:50:33There we are, there's a seal on the rocks,
0:50:33 > 0:50:36- there's a head, there's another head.- Whoo!
0:50:36 > 0:50:41What you've got here is a mixture of greys and commons,
0:50:41 > 0:50:45and the easy way to tell them apart is the greys are much bigger.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49There's another way to tell them apart and that's the shape of the nostrils,
0:50:49 > 0:50:53but I think if you're close enough to one of them to see the shape of their nostrils,
0:50:53 > 0:50:57you might as well just ask them which species they are.
0:50:57 > 0:51:02Now the big guys with the hooked noses are the grey seals.
0:51:02 > 0:51:09I think most of these are greys, actually, but you'll see some smaller ones with the snub noses,
0:51:09 > 0:51:14the common seals - or harbour seals, as they're known locally.
0:51:14 > 0:51:18The common seals have their young kind of April, May time,
0:51:18 > 0:51:21so there's hopefully going to be a few pups around.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25The young ones are really curious and it's the young ones you want,
0:51:25 > 0:51:30you can see the slightly smaller ones coming in to have a look at who we are and what we're doing.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33Three, two, one, go.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31The seals are very wary of us, so we change tactics and try snorkelling instead.
0:52:44 > 0:52:46It's a tactic that pays off.
0:52:48 > 0:52:53When you see these deep chasms, it's clear why the seals have chosen this area to live.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57Killer whales - or orcas, to give them their proper name -
0:52:57 > 0:52:58stalk them in open water,
0:52:58 > 0:53:03but they're safe in these narrow gullies where the orcas can't follow.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16Me and Martin were just hanging on the surface,
0:53:16 > 0:53:20just kind of shooting the breeze, bobbing around, not doing anything
0:53:20 > 0:53:25and we both looked down and sitting underneath us were these big eyes just peering up at us.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29It was funny, wasn't it, Martin? Just couldn't figure out what we were, could it?
0:53:29 > 0:53:33- She was sitting there, just staring up at us, wonderful.- She's confused.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37Yeah, completely, yeah, confused. Right, off we go.
0:53:39 > 0:53:43Fantastic, fantastic experience. Brilliant to share it with Martin.
0:53:43 > 0:53:48A great thing to be able to do, to introduce him to that environment,
0:53:48 > 0:53:52introduce him to the animals he's been looking at for years.
0:53:52 > 0:53:57He's grown up off Slyne Head and actually visiting this area.
0:53:57 > 0:54:02To introduce him to the animals underwater is really special, you know.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06So very special, a special day for me and,
0:54:06 > 0:54:09I hope, a very special day for him, too.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17Wildlife, like the seals, are a huge tourist draw and in Kilrush
0:54:17 > 0:54:21on the Shannon estuary, dolphin-watching is big business.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24I must admit I'm a bit worried about what would happen in Roundstone
0:54:24 > 0:54:29if I ever did prove there was a resident pod of dolphins in the bay.
0:54:30 > 0:54:35This is the Shannon Estuary and it's home to one of the only resident pods
0:54:35 > 0:54:39of bottlenose dolphins in Ireland - probably THE only resident pod
0:54:39 > 0:54:43and it's here that Simon Berrow and the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group ply their trade.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52The whole thing of this quest to find if the Roundstone pod's a resident pod and all that -
0:54:52 > 0:54:55and we'll see about that - should it be a resident pod?
0:54:55 > 0:54:58You then end up with inevitable tourist pressure, don't you?
0:54:58 > 0:55:00Tour boats and things coming in.
0:55:00 > 0:55:05How much of an impact does that have? That's what you're monitoring today, isn't it?
0:55:05 > 0:55:07Yeah, well, it's a double-edged sword because
0:55:07 > 0:55:12if they're resident, it actually means that, from a tourism point of view,
0:55:12 > 0:55:16it's much better, much easier to plan and to invest in decent boats
0:55:16 > 0:55:19and advertise because you know they're there.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22So residents, the dolphins are great to support the tourism,
0:55:22 > 0:55:27but, as you said, it also means it's a very important place in terms of conservation
0:55:27 > 0:55:30and there's a much bigger potential for disturbing the animals
0:55:30 > 0:55:35- and ruining the very thing that matters, you know.- Yeah.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42Part of Simon's job is monitoring the boats that take tourists out to see the dolphins...
0:55:42 > 0:55:44when there are any.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53Is it fairly unusual to come out and not find them, would you say?
0:55:53 > 0:55:56It is, I mean, it's something like 98% success rate,
0:55:56 > 0:56:00- so 98% of trips both from Carrigaholt and Kilrush will find dolphins.- Yeah.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04And Geoff's boat is fantastic - it's got all the height so I mean...
0:56:04 > 0:56:07Oh, dolphin! Just jumped, Geoff!
0:56:16 > 0:56:18There we go, caught on camera.
0:56:23 > 0:56:28It's great, this transformation in people on the boat when the dolphins appear, because suddenly
0:56:28 > 0:56:30the worst 30 euro you've ever spent
0:56:30 > 0:56:33to just bob around in a boat pointlessly in the middle of nowhere
0:56:33 > 0:56:38becomes the best 30 euro you've ever spent in your life, as suddenly you see the animals
0:56:38 > 0:56:41and the great thing is for a lot of the people here,
0:56:41 > 0:56:45it's the first time they've ever seen a dolphin and it's something you never forget.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49And the interesting thing is seeing everyone's reaction on the boat when
0:56:49 > 0:56:54the dolphins appear, suddenly, morale was low and morale soared, and in a way that morale is money.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58That excitement, they'll tell their mates and more people'll come.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01It's much more exciting that way because they appreciate there are
0:57:01 > 0:57:06wild dolphins and that we're privileged to see them which, of course, we are.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09We've got a baby dolphin, I think, heading our way.
0:57:09 > 0:57:14The good thing about seeing young ones is you can track their progress,
0:57:14 > 0:57:16particularly if they're with an adult or with their mum
0:57:16 > 0:57:20and the mum's got a clearly-marked fin, you can track them as a pair
0:57:20 > 0:57:24and find out at what point the young one leaves, when the mother has a new one.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27It's all really important stuff.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30Obviously it shows that they're breeding here,
0:57:30 > 0:57:34which is what I'm trying to prove off Roundstone, that they breed there as well.
0:57:34 > 0:57:38I want to see young ones. To see some young ones would be fantastic.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41It's been a good day, I've learnt a lot today.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44Wa-hey!
0:57:44 > 0:57:46- 'Next time...' - Pull, pull, pull, pull.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49'..blue sharks arrive off the coast.'
0:57:49 > 0:57:54I think the significant thing here is two more blue sharks tagged out there now.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57'..the famous Connemara ponies are put through their paces...'
0:57:57 > 0:58:01One of the horses came round this corner and ran straight into the sea.
0:58:01 > 0:58:05'..and checking reports that a dolphin's been threatening swimmers.'
0:58:05 > 0:58:08When she wants to turn it on, by jingo, she can turn it on!
0:58:15 > 0:58:18Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:18 > 0:58:21E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk